So, I just picked up a USB-driven mini-monitor, which can be had direct from Mimo Monitors or from The Gadgeteers. It’s a little 7“ monitor which does 800 x 480, and the cool thing about it is that you don’t need a video card to drive it—it gets both power and video direct over USB, using DisplayLink technology. And, of course, it’s small enough to be portable, so it can be thrown in a suitcase easily and then hooked up to a laptop with no trouble, which is the main thing I bought it for. I really like having a lot of display space and working on a laptop always feels like looking through a keyhole; this should help with that.
So far, it’s very cool. The monitor can be used in either portrait or landscape, and it’s a great compact size for little windows that you need, but don’t really need, and that you don’t want to have covering or underneath a bunch of other things. Chat client windows, browser download windows, tool palettes, etc. The Mac driver installed without a hitch and everything just worked. Even the USB cable is cool; it’s a pass-through cable which will take another USB device so it effectively doesn’t take up a port when plugged in.
So far the only drawback is that 800×480 on a 7” screen means really high pixel density, which means tiny, tiny text. But since I don’t really intend to do any serious reading on it, I’m not too worried.
Not super-cheap, no—the entry-level UM-710 is $130—and of course for that kind of money you can buy a 19“ real monitor. But I can’t put that in my suitcase, and when I’m at home I’d need an additional video card to run it with my already two-monitor desktop (which doesn’t have space for another 22” monitor anyway). So now I’m running three monitors at home, and I’ll be able to run two when I’m on the road.
Definitely a cool new toy.
I was pondering these until I realized how expensive they are.
How well does it handle full-screen video?
Mimomonitors.com has no connection to the manufacturer. Unfortunately they just chose the name as a way to take business away from us… I appreciate reading your comments on the MiMo, we love hearing from our satisfied customers.
Best wishes,
Jeremy Shafton
Founder, The Gadgeteers
OK, thanks Jeremy, I did not realize that—I stand corrected. I did get mine from The Gadgeteers, though, and I am indeed a satisfied customer.
Now, in answer to Ben’s question, yes, it handles full-screen video without a hitch. I fired up my MacBook and ran the car chase scene from The Fifth Element on it and it was flawless. (Streamed over wireless from my desktop machine, no less).
I’ll be sure to file an updated report after some travel—it’s been a slow travel year so far, but between March 3rd and April 2nd I have three trips, so we’ll see how well it handles road duty.